A reward for murder: UK and U.S. accused as Libya defector has assets freed and may escape travel ban

Britain and the U.S. were last night angrily accused of ‘rewarding terrorism’ over the lifting of sanctions on Colonel Gaddafi’s henchman, Musa Kusa.

Foreign Secretary William Hague was pushing the EU to drop a strict travel ban and asset freeze against Libya’s former foreign minister.

Kusa, described as one of the masterminds of the Lockerbie bombing and allegedly linked to the deaths of hundreds of IRA bomb attacks, defected to the UK last week.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has pushed the EU to drop strict sanctions against former Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa, who defected to the UK last week

Pressure on Britain to restore Kusa’s perks mounted after America unlocked his bank accounts on Monday. Foreign Office and White House officials believe it will encourage others to quit Gaddafi’s favoured circle.

But relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie atrocity, victims of the IRA and MPs reacted with horror at the ‘appalling’ decision to remove sanctions.

Brian Flynn, whose brother John Patrick, 21, was among 270 people murdered when a Pan Am jetliner was blown up over the Scottish town, said: ‘We all want to see Gaddafi brought down but at what cost to justice? This is rewarding somebody who has been accused of terrorist attacks.’

Musu Kusa was allegedly involved in plotting the bombing on Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 270 in 1988. Relatives of the victims have reacted with horror to news his assets will be freed

Conservative MP Edward Leigh said Kusa –
once dubbed Libya’s ‘envoy of death’ – was ‘clearly up to his elbows in
blood in terms of arming the IRA’.

He said: ‘How appalling it would be if this man, who at best is morally dubious and at worst may be a mass murderer in terms of Lockerbie, was allowed to enter this country and leave this country with a lot of his ill-gotten gains.’

Mr Hague hinted to the Commons that he wanted to lift sanctions, claiming that keeping them in place would be ‘no incentive for members of the regime to abandon its murderous work’.

President Obama's support for the move to lift sanctions raised eyebrows as his administration were so against the release of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi

President Barack Obama’s support for the move raised eyebrows because Washington slammed the British government when the Scottish Executive agreed to release Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, from jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009.

Kusa, 57, who is being kept at a ‘safe house’ in England, is thought to have amassed a fortune in his years working at Gaddafi’s right hand. He is being grilled by Foreign Office officials who believe his information will topple the tyrant.

The UK is refusing to offer Libya’s former intelligence chief any immunity from prosecution.

Prosecutors investigating the Lockerbie bombing are hoping to meet Kusa ‘in the next few days’.

It also emerged yesterday that the International Criminal Court wants to question Kusa as part of a war-crimes investigation.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is compiling a report for the UN on Gaddafi’s violent crushing of the uprising in Libya which has left more than 1,000 people dead.

Peaceful protests on February 15 descended into civil war after the despot’s troops fired on unarmed protesters.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said: ‘We warned different people, including Musa Kusa, that the troops were committing crimes.

‘If someone cannot control them, defecting is a valid option. That is what Musa Kusa did. We will see what responsibility he had.’

The development came as Abdelati Obeidi, a senior Libyan envoy who is visiting Europe in a bid to broker a deal, defiantly insisted Gaddafi would not step down.

The diplomat is believed to be acting as a middleman for the dictator’s son Saif, who has stressed his support for reforms and democratic elections. But crucially, he said the dictator must stay in power to see the changes through.

The offer was dismissed by David Cameron yesterday. He said: ‘My view is very clear. There is no future for Libya that involves Colonel Gaddafi still being at the helm.

‘How could there be when he’s literally been trying to butcher his own people?’

Minister: Armed forces are at breaking point

Defence Minister Nick Harvey said the crippling cuts would leave the UK unable to tackle further crises in the future

Britain's Armed Forces are at full stretch and would ‘struggle’ to carry out any more operations, a defence minister admitted last night.

Nick Harvey warned that crippling cuts to the Army, Royal Navy and RAF risked leaving the UK’s military unable to tackle another crisis.

He spoke out after the Ministry of Defence announced 3,600 soldiers, sailors and airmen would lose their jobs in September.

The autumn axe is part of a cull of 17,000 servicemen and women over four years ordered in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review. Defence chiefs are also scrapping tanks, warships, fighter jets and spy-in-the-sky planes to save £4.7billion.

Britain is already fighting in Afghanistan and Libya, as well as protecting the UK and the Falklands.

Mr Harvey said: ‘We are at full stretch. The fact we have fewer naval vessels means we are sweating them harder.

‘We are quite close to capacity. If two or three more situations kicked off, and there’s an awful lot going on at the moment, we would begin to struggle.

‘Could we do more if we had more assets? Yes. If we had more ships and planes, we could do more.’

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: ‘The cat is out the bag. At last a minister has confirmed the concerns of so many in the defence community about the pressures our Forces are under.

‘In light of recent dramatic global events the Government should pause, think again and reopen their rushed review. They are making mistakes and I am concerned some may be serious.’

Up to 800 Royal Marines were last night preparing to embark on a six-month deployment to support humanitarian operations in Libya. Prime Minister David Cameron is said to have approved plans for the sensitive mission as long as there is international backing.

David Cameron met with pilots in Italy on Monday just hours after the cuts were announced that would axe 17,000 service jobs over fours years

With Gaddafi’s forces besieging the city of Misrata, and the country locked in a military and political stalemate, aid agencies believe a major relief operation is ‘a matter of weeks away’. Military chiefs in London are understood to have drawn up contingency plans for commandos to take part in a multi-national aid mission until at least October.

Troops would help provide food, shelter and medical supplies to thousands of Libyan people displaced by the conflict amid fears of a refugee crisis. The Marines would deploy with weapons, but they will not be part of any invasion force or occupation.